Re: archive: example message page with long titles

Hello Al,

At 09:47 PM 8/26/01 -0400, you wrote:

>What does the list of links view in Jaws show?
>
>This is controlled by the user setting I mentioned in my first 
>message.  The specific setting is called "Text Links Verbosity" and both 
>the list of links and Virtual PC view of a web page in JAWS use this 
>setting to control what is displayed.

>Can anyone tell us what the list of links view in Window-Eyes uses?
>
>It never uses the title text.  Window-Eyes always uses the general link 
>name in all navigation modes.

>If one does not use the list-of-links view, how hard is it to read all the
>text, including what comes in each list item before the link text, and follow
>the link that you wish when you get to it?

Here's the heart of the matter.  At present I'm confining my comments to 
JAWS and Window-Eyes, although I know that HPR behaves somewhat similarly.

Both JAWS and Window-Eyes offer three basic navigation methods of a web 
page.  First is what I'll call the buffered or default view.  In this 
navigation mode the text of a web page is loaded into a buffer and the user 
navigates around with the cursor keys or a few acceleration options, such 
as focus to first input control, focus to first non-linked text and such.

In this mode tables are decolumnized and linked text is displayed on a line 
by itself.  Assume I have the sentence:

I want to win loads of cash from Powerball but must buy a ticket first.

The hyperlink in the sentence is the word Powerball.  I've also defined 
title text on the link as:

A Multi-state lottery game.

This will show up to JAWS and Window-Eyes as follows.  The user would be 
pressing down arrow or perhaps in a continuous reading mode.

***Window-Eyes


I want to win loads of cash from
*L Powerball
but must buy a ticket first.

***JAWS set to read title text, the default mode
I want to win loads of cash from
*L A Multi-state lottery game.
but must buy a ticket first.

***JAWS set to read screen text, requires user action to change
I want to win loads of cash from
*L Powerball
but must buy a ticket first.

The second navigation option offered by both JAWS and Window-Eyes is the 
list of links feature.  This simply generates a list of all links found on 
a web page and places them into a standard Windows list box.  While the 
user has several options from this point, what's important here is how the 
user can find the context of the links from such a mode.  Both JAWS and 
Window-Eyes offer a command, no matter the name, which is the functional 
equivalent of moving the user to the link of interest on the web page.  The 
user activates this feature from the list of links and is returned to the 
buffered view of the web page on the line containing the link.  The user 
can then use any reading command to read what's before or after the linked 
text.

Finally the user has the option to tab through the web page while in this 
buffered mode.  In this navigation mode, the user is stopped at anything 
reachable via tab, links, input controls and such.  I should mention that 
in this navigation mode, JAWS ignores the "text links verbosity" option and 
will always read title text for a link if such has been defined.

In your example page, I noticed that items like reply, next and previous 
were present as both text and part of the link titles.  In some navigation 
modes for JAWS in particular, this will cause text duplication, i.e. if the 
user is cursoring through the buffer with the default of reading title or 
alt text.  Here's an example:

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Kelly

Received on Monday, 27 August 2001 06:02:28 UTC